Tom linked his old campaign with this one in a very interesting way. We fought the Shadow Plane for a long time, and we learned that they now controlled two planes: their original one and one they had conquered. The ALL is the Deity (or Deities) from that second plane of existence. When defeated, the ALL came to our plane to hide and heal, and Odin accepted him and together with all the gods, wove powerful magic to hide his existence here so the Shadow would not find him. This magic included many things:
First, the ALL was hidden in a pocket plane coming off from our own. We don't know how large it is, but there are clearly a few portals to ours, probably in Starshine, The White Temple, and here at SeaCatt Reefs. Some creatures have come from there to this world, or some of ours have gone there and been changed by it. The "ghosts" are intelligent beings from that plane. The Deity isn't really named the ALL, that is a name given to it to hide it's original name.
Bringing the ALL here weakened the planar fabric here, or was weak here to begin with (thus the ALL arriving here). Evil uglies became common as they arrived from various planes to rule here. Since Cat, Brid, and Fox were known for killing Evil Uglies, they were probably here before the ALL arrived.
Second, to protect Predallen, The Cat and the Bird were uplifted to demigods and given responsibility to protect this land. The Fox was also part of that, but not as a demigod. We suspect she founded the line of human rulers of this land, but that is conjecture. They were also to kill the Evil Uglies.
Third, to hide all evidence of change, a Forgetfulness Charm was placed over the world, so everyone outside of Predallen would forget it exists, and additionally everyone would forget that the Forgetfulness had ever been cast.. Over time even the gods were affected and forgot about Predallen. The Evil Uglies were getting out of control.
The gods rediscovered Predallen and created the pool of healing.
Honne and Tatemae fought the demons, set up a government and the Orders, and pacified Predallen. Predallen prospered and the Traders and the Black Order ruled the seas. Tatemae stayed on Predallen setting things up here, while Honne spent much of her time overseas setting up the Traders.
100 years ago, when the comet hit, magic was weakened and Honne no longer had the strength to leave Predallen (she often did to work establishing the Traders, and bringing wealth to Predallen). When she stayed in Predallen for awhile she realized the Orders were loyal mostly to Tatemae and weren't acting as she had wanted. Human sacrifices had also been set up by Tatemae to counter this power loss. A civil war started, and Honne lost.
Only about 3 years ago, our characters in the last campaign shut the Shadow Plane portals (remember Tepes' lair). Magic power returned to the land. Also, our plane is no longer in direct danger from the Shadow Plane. Somehow, this triggered the current situation, where the ALL is not in danger now, the Forgetfulness Charm is fading and now appears broken, a new world order can be set up, and a battle/race is taking place on who will do so.
The ALL and Predallen History
Tom linked his old campaign with this one in a very interesting way. We fought the Shadow Plane for a long time, and we learned that they now controlled two planes: their original one and one they had conquered. The ALL is the Deity (or Deities) from that second plane of existence. When defeated, the ALL came to our plane to hide and heal, and Odin accepted him and together with all the gods, wove powerful magic to hide his existence here so the Shadow would not find him. This magic included many things:
First, the ALL was hidden in a pocket plane coming off from our own. We don't know how large it is, but there are clearly a few portals to ours, probably in Starshine, The White Temple, and here at SeaCatt Reefs. Some creatures have come from there to this world, or some of ours have gone there and been changed by it. The "ghosts" are intelligent beings from that plane. The Deity isn't really named the ALL, that is a name given to it to hide it's original name.
Bringing the ALL here weakened the planar fabric here, or was weak here to begin with (thus the ALL arriving here). Evil uglies became common as they arrived from various planes to rule here. Since Cat, Brid, and Fox were known for killing Evil Uglies, they were probably here before the ALL arrived.
Second, to protect Predallen, The Cat and the Bird were uplifted to demigods and given responsibility to protect this land. The Fox was also part of that, but not as a demigod. We suspect she founded the line of human rulers of this land, but that is conjecture. They were also to kill the Evil Uglies.
Third, to hide all evidence of change, a Forgetfulness Charm was placed over the world, so everyone outside of Predallen would forget it exists, and additionally everyone would forget that the Forgetfulness had ever been cast.. Over time even the gods were affected and forgot about Predallen. The Evil Uglies were getting out of control.
The gods rediscovered Predallen and created the pool of healing.
Honne and Tatemae fought the demons, set up a government and the Orders, and pacified Predallen. Predallen prospered and the Traders and the Black Order ruled the seas. Tatemae stayed on Predallen setting things up here, while Honne spent much of her time overseas setting up the Traders.
100 years ago, when the comet hit, magic was weakened and Honne no longer had the strength to leave Predallen (she often did to work establishing the Traders, and bringing wealth to Predallen). When she stayed in Predallen for awhile she realized the Orders were loyal mostly to Tatemae and weren't acting as she had wanted. Human sacrifices had also been set up by Tatemae to counter this power loss. A civil war started, and Honne lost.
Only about 3 years ago, our characters in the last campaign shut the Shadow Plane portals (remember Tepes' lair). Magic power returned to the land. Also, our plane is no longer in direct danger from the Shadow Plane. Somehow, this triggered the current situation, where the ALL is not in danger now, the Forgetfulness Charm is fading and now appears broken, a new world order can be set up, and a battle/race is taking place on who will do so.